Filed under: Marketing Theory
Caribou Coffee has gotten a lot of media attention over the past couple weeks for its “complete rebranding.” It all seems a little over-hyped to me as what they’ve basically done is refresh their logo design on signage, cups and napkins. Frankly, I’m astounded that brand is still being defined in such superficial terms. I’m also wondering how many people really care, other than the folks at Caribou Coffee.
As Alfredo Martel, Sr. VP of Marketing at Caribou, explains: “This rebrand is meant to signify an important change in the direction of our company.”
The new logo is a different take on the traditional animal icon, which now features the body of a coffee bean and antlers in the shape of a “C” on the backdrop of a shield that represents a state park emblem, not that I would have known that last part without being told. Another thing I wouldn’t have noticed is that the caribou is now leaping to the right rather than left, toward the company’s future. I do hope we’re not over-thinking this.
Companies engaging in cause marketing programs face a delicate balance between causes: the altruistic giving and the self-serving 
promotion. In today’s media-hyped marketplace it can be a dangerous thing if not pulled off in a sincere and credible way.
More companies are jumping on the cause marketing bandwagon as an alternative to tradition advertising, which is why many of the heavy hitters were conspicuously absent from this year’s Super Bowl ad fest.
Case in point: the Pepsi Fresh Project that ran through February. Rather than spending millions on a handful of 30-second TV commercials in and around the Big Game, Pepsi decided to reallocate that money to a worthy cause. They launched a major cross-media campaign asking the public to visit refresheverything.com and vote for a select charitable cause or community group worthy of receiving a grant ranging from $5,000 to $250,000. Options include a girls club to promote self-esteem, a diaper bank in Detroit and a group that is recycling T-shirts into shopping bags to raise money for rescued animals.
Filed under: Business Models | Tags: auto industry, customer value, public relations
More than ever before brands are built on trust, not image. Trust is an emotional state, founded not just on the products but on the integrity of companies that produce them, and the CEOs who lead them. In a consumer-driven marketplace, where public trust has been rocked by numerous incidents of corporate greed and situational ethics in a brutal economic recession, even seemingly invincible brands have become volatile.
A recent episode with Kevin Smith and Southwest Airlines provides another glaring example illustrating that in today’s business landscape the customer rules, whether right or wrong. I’m not saying Smith is wrong, but I don’t think he was totally right either. There was a fair amount of media exploitation going on.
What he did was launch a Twitter tirade after being asked to leave a flight from Oakland to Burbank last Saturday, because his over-sized body was supposedly too large to fit in the seat and he was infringing on the space of the person next to him, as well as creating a safety threat — at least that’s how it was rationalized by the pilot and crew.
Filed under: Marketing Theory | Tags: advertising, commercials, super bowl
And the winner in the Super Bowl advertising competition was… everyone and no one.
As usual, there was a lot of media buzz about which were the best ads to show during the Big Game. The consensus appears to be that none of this year’s advertising crop was astounding, though many of the ads were deemed effective by different outlets using different criteria. This is the part I always find most interesting: How do we measure the effectiveness of mass media advertising in general, and more specifically during the Super Bowl where a 30-second spot costs around $2.5 million, plus production? I guess it depends on what it is we’re trying to measure.
Okay, I get that Google has changed the world and the way business is done, and their leading-edge apps are leveling the playing field for smaller companies; but, if they’re going to employ traditional media to market those apps, they might want to bring in someone who knows what they’re doing. It’s an embarrassment, or it should be. Either they don’t realize this, or they’ve become too arrogant to care.
Filed under: Marketing Theory | Tags: census, government, marketing, new market order
The US Census provides access to valuable geo-demographic data that allows companies to more effectively targ
et narrowly defined customer segments, down to a household level. It allows retailers to better define site locations and product mix, and direct marketers to deliver more relevant messages and offers. The problem is that this data has a relatively short freshness date as the market has become increasingly fluid and dynamic, which is why the 2010 census is so important — a lot has changed over the past ten years.
Demographers are speculating that this census update might be one of the most significant of any in history, in terms of shifting demographics and clustering.
Filed under: Customer Rules | Tags: auto industry, customer experience, worst practices
Talk about leading with your chin. A car dealership in Minneapolis is actually suing one of its customers because they made a mistake — this has to be one of the best worst practices I’ve seen in awhile.
The case in point is a woman named Tammie Townsend who leased a 2007 Chrysler Pacifica from Walser Chrysler in Hopkins, MN, then agreed to purchase the vehicle when the dealer offered a very attractive buyout price, well below blue book value. She opted to finance through the dealer and signed the contract, driving off with a pretty good deal. Or was it a steal?
I don’t know about you, but I’m finding it very interesting to watch what appears to be a desperation move (or is it a Kamikaze mission?) by Domino’s Pizza, as the company has launched an aggressive mea culpa campaign using traditional advertising and social media, including a high visibility video on YouTube, in an attempt to resuscitate its dying brand. The campaign is essentially an admission that their pizza sucks — at least in the minds of customers. Domino’s has listened and is responding with a complete overhaul of the product.
Domino’s president Patrick Doyle speaks to us from his corporate headquarters in Ann Arbor about how painful it was to hear focus group participants describe how bad his pizza is; the crust tastes like cardboard, the sauce like ketchup, the cheese tasteless and processed. The average frozen pizza is far superior. A vocal leader in the focus group sessions, a woman named Adrian, proclaims it to be the worst excuse for pizza she’s ever seen. Ouch. That’s not a wound, it’s a head shot.
Filed under: Business Models | Tags: customer experience, email, marketing, word of mouth
Here’s a thought: when companies ask if the customer wants to unsubscribe from unwanted email solicitation, they should honor that request, or they shouldn’t ask. Very often they do not but are merely complying with the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. In many cases by unsubscribing we are merely validating our email addresses for distribution to more spam lists.
It would seem this should be a matter of proper social etiquette — especially for a company that is in the social etiquette business.
